Ray School Library Media Center
Recommended Books for Fourth and Fifth Grade
Summer 2008

Mostly new...some tried and true!

Allison, Jennifer. Gilda Joyce: The Ghost Sonata. [2007]

Gilda Joyce's best friend Wendy Choy qualifies to compete in an international piano competition in Oxford, England, and Gilda is determined to go as well--as a page turner. [S]

Babbitt, Natalie. Tuck Everlasting. [1987].

The Tuck family is confronted with an agonizing situation when they
discover that a ten-year-old girl and a malicious stranger now share their
secret about a spring whose water prevents one from ever growing older.

Balliett, Blue. The Calder Game. [2008]

When seventh-grader Calder Pillay disappears from a remote English village--along with an Alexander Calder sculpture to which he has felt strangely drawn--his friends Petra and Tommy fly from Chicago to help his father find him. [S]

Bellairs, John and Strickland, Brad. The Doom of the Haunted Opera.
[1995].

Lewis Barnavelt and Rose Rita Pottinger are faced with a dilemma when
their discovery of an unpublished opera score unleashes a wicked sorcerer
who plans to rule the world by bringing back the dead. [S]



Clements, Andrew. No Talking. [2007]

The noisy fifth grade boys of Laketon Elementary School challenge the equally loud fifth grade girls to a "no talking" contest.

Cooper, Susan and Gill, Margery. Over Sea, Under Stone. [1966, 1965].

Three children on a holiday in Cornwall find an ancient manuscript which
sends them on a dangerous quest for a grail that would reveal the true story of King Arthur. [S]

Curtis, Christopher Paul. Elijah of Buxton. [2007]

In 1859, eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman, the first freeborn child in Buxton, Canada, which is a haven for slaves fleeing the American south, uses his wits and skills to try to bring to justice the lying preacher who has stolen money that was to be used to buy a family’s freedom.

Dahl, Roald and Blake, Quentin. The BFG. [1982].

Kidsnatched from her orphanage by a BFG (Big Friendly Giant), who spends his life blowing happy dreams to children, Sophie concocts with him a plan to save the world from nine other man-gobbling cannybull giants.

Funke, Cornelia. The Thief Lord. [2002].

Two orphans hide out in Venice, Italy where they meet a mysterious
teenager named the "Thief Lord."

McKay, Hilary. Caddy Ever After. [2006].

The four eccentric Casson siblings each contribute written accounts of the events - which include a Valentine's Day dance, the appearance of a sinister balloon, and the breakdown of a car - that lead to Caddy's wedding day. [S]




Paterson, Katherine. The Great Gilly Hopkins. [1978].

An eleven-year-old foster child tries to cope with her longings and fears
as she schemes against everyone who tries to be friendly.

Paulsen, Gary. Hatchet. [1987]

After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the
wilderness, learning to survive initially with only the aid of a hatchet
given him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce.
[S]

Peck, Richard. On the Wings of Heroes. [2007]

A boy in Illinois remembers the home front years of World War II, especially his two heroes--his brother in the Air Force and his father, who fought in the previous war.

Pullman, Philip. The Golden Compass. [1996].

Accompanied by her daemon, Lyra Belacqua sets out to prevent her best
friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the subjects of gruesome experiments in the Far North. [S]

Schmidt, Gary. The Wednesday Wars. [2007]

During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker's classroom where they read the plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns much of value about the world they live in.

Selznick, Brian. The Invention of Hugo Cabret. [2007]

When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toy seller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are jeopardized.


Thompson, Kate. The New Policeman. [2007]

Irish teenager JJ Liddy discovers that time is leaking from his world into Tir na nOg, the land of the fairies, and when he attempts to stop the leak he finds out a lot about his family history, the music that he loves, and a crime his great-grandfather may or may not have committed.

Woodson, Jacqueline. Feathers. [2007]

When a new, white student nicknamed "The Jesus Boy" joins her sixth grade class in the winter of 1971, Frannie's growing friendship with him makes her start to see some things in a new light.

[S] = Sequels or Part of a Series

Bernice A. Ray School
Summer Library

July 7 - August 8, 2008
Hours: 9:00 - 12:00
643-6655 http://www.rayschool.org

The Howe Library

Monday - Thursday 10 - 8, Friday 10 - 6, Saturday 10 - 5
Sunday 1 - 5 from September - May
(closed on Sunday during the summer)
643-4120 http://www.thehowe.org

Etna Library

Mondays & Thursdays: 2 - 7
Tuesday: 9 - 2
Friday: 9 - 4
Saturday: 10 - 12 noon
(closed on Wednesdays and Sundays)
643-3116 email: etna.library@hanovernh.org